BackReview: Asus A555LF XX191T laptop
This laptop offers excellent performance, but is let down by poor display and build quality
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While its range of laptops across various price points is indeed impressive, Asus laptop names and the series can get a bit confusing. For example, the Asus A555LF XX191T ( ₹ 48,999) that we are reviewing here has eight different variants, each with different configurations and colour combinations. This is the most powerful notebook in the A-series.
Design: Good looking but not exactly thin
The A555LF looks better than a lot of other big screen laptops priced below ₹ 50,000. There are some nice design elements, including the lid which has a dark brown glossy finish. And there is a fine-looking pattern too, which masks the smudges well. The plastic looks good, but you can feel quite a lot of flex if you push it with even the slightest pressure. The keyboard is set on a matte aluminium base, which feels very durable.
The A555LF offers all the relevant connectivity options such as memory card slot, a USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, 1HDMI port, I VGA, a LAN port. It also includes an optical drive.
This laptop weighs 2.3g, which is what most affordable laptops weigh, and isn’t necessarily the most portable.
Typing: Full keyboard but no backlight
The A555LF provides a full-size keyboard with a number pad. The keys are big enough and well spaced for comfortable and accurate typing. Unfortunately they are not backlit. There is plenty of space for hand rest under the keyboard, so that the user can type comfortably for long hours. The trackpad is smooth and responsive, but lacks markers for left or right click buttons which makes it a bit confusing at first.
Screen: Big but not sharp enough
The notebook has a 15.6-inch wide-screen (16:9) LED display with 1,366x768 resolution. We aren’t entirely sure if this resolution is acceptable at this price because the HP Pavilion 15-ab029TX ( ₹ 51,990) offers a Full HD 1,920x1,080p which will be significantly better when watching media, reading text and also for future proofing. The A555LF’s screen reproduces natural colours, but movies and games don’t look very sharp. Though the screen handles reflections well, which increase its viability for outdoor users, viewing angles are not very good because of the phenomenon known as colour shift.
Performance: Fast and smooth
The A555LF is a mid-range powerhouse running on Intel’s 4th generation Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 930M (2GB) graphics card. The powerful specs allow it to handle a variety of tasks pretty effectively. It even played games like PES 2015 without any stutter.
There is a 1TB hard drive which provides a lot of space to install games and store movies. The built-in speakers are loud and clear enough for playing games and watching movies, but don’t expect a lot of richness in sound.
The battery lasted over 6 to 7 hours of continuous use, which is impressive for a big screen laptop that is not running an ultra-low voltage processor.
Software: Runs latest Windows OS
This laptop runs Microsoft’s latest 64-bit Windows 10 operating system offering new features such as voice assistant Cortana, Edge web browser, virtual desktop and action centre features. It also offers one month’s free subscription of MS Office 365 suite which includes Word, Excel, and Power Point.
Verdict
Asus A555LF XX191T has good specs and offers neat performance. But we cannot ignore the fact that the build quality isn’t the best, and the rivals are offering Full HD screens for around the same price.
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